DISA approves sharing mission critical information via the cloud

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has granted authorization to connect unclassified national security data and mission critical information to the cloud.

The provisional authorization granted by the Department of Defense will allow Impact Level 5 data be to stored using milCloud 2.0 from CSRA, a government information technology company. MilCloud 2.0 is the DoD’s private cloud infrastructure, which the service originally procured in June 2017. The infrastructure connects commercial cloud service offerings to Department of Defense networks in a private deployment model with a focus on enhanced security.

“We have said since the beginning that milCloud 2.0 is a game-changer,” said CSRA President and CEO Larry Prior. “Through milCloud 2.0, CSRA is providing our warfighters with an ‘easy button’ for cloud acceleration, allowing new flexibility to focus on their mission while saving time, money, and resources.”

Senior leaders at the Department of Defense have been proactive about moving information to the cloud. In Sept. 2017, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan sent a memo to DoD agencies establishing a strategy for the execution of cloud service adoption. DISA, which provides information technology services to the Pentagon, is one of the agencies tasked with the facilitating the cloud transition.

“For the next 60 days we will be working with our early adopters to fine-tune our business processes,” said Caroline Bean, DISA milCloud 2.0 program manager. “The next step will be to open the doors for business to everyone else who is waiting to onboard.

The milCloud 2.0 provisional authorization is a one-year conditional authorization. The DoD origionally procured milCloud 2.0 under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a $498 million ceiling in June 2017.